WHEN LEOPARDS GO WRONG

image: mine

so far, my cataloguing cats project has been dedicated soley to the examination of specimens of the highest order... but how can one know how good one has it until one encounters what she most fears of all creatures in the jungle? BAD EXAMPLES OF ANIMAL PRINT!

see above: a raggedy one-shoulder synthetic bodysuit in the 'just arrived' section at peacocks (SHUDDER) but looking as if it had never seen better days. the print looks like a scary close-up photograph of the simmering cells of some deadly disease in a petri dish under a microscope. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

TRINKETS N TRASH: face facts

[image: mine]

unlike leopards, earrings come in pairs apparently - apart from at the start of this century, when it was a bit trendy to only wear an adornment on a single earlobe. why? possibly because hipsters had wonky hair or possibly because they kept losing things and further down the line this became a topshop trend. the high street selling mismatched pairs on purpose or even single oversized earrings to make a style statement. saying what, i don't know... you are carefree and punkrock so you dont need to match, man.

sadly this pair of earrings are currently out of action because i can't bring myself to wear only one of them without the other and i haven't got around to replacing that missing clasp. soon though.

SPOTTED: this morning

image: johncat

superdrug are currently selling this leopard make-up bag gift set in allgoodhighstreetstores. usually i buy anything acceptable of theirs in leopard-print, because a girl always needs a spare make-up bag or three, but haven't got these ones yet.

this morning at king's cross station an in-the-know 8 year old holding hands with her mum on the escalator was carrying the biggest bag from this pack as her handbag. now that's a good idea. if you're 8.

RING-A-DINGDING

i don't often wear hand-jewels for various reasons, but mainly because i always end up absent-mindedly leaving them next to the sinks in pub lavatories which is not the best way to look after precious pieces! this dainty knuckleduster was a gift from nick and phoebe, purchased from the always delightful shop at the v&a.

of course, the day after this photo was taken, i left it in the ladies' loos of an east end pub then had to go back there THE NEXT DAY [luckily] to get it after a short phone chat with one of the barstaff 'i left a leopard ring... oh that's yours? it's amazing!...thanks'

here, in a close-up taken in the lock tavern's biergarten, john is wearing his TIGER tee in the background for multi-cat impact.

LEO IN LEOPARD

madonna dining out in a slinky, silvery grey dress by the glam-leopard maestros themselves, dolce&gabbana last week. they know that leopard sells season after season and that italians do it better.

BRODY DALLE: fierce in fishnets

on thursday night i went to see spinnerette headline camden's electric ballroom and got all teenage-crush over frontlady brody dalle again.

i was a massive distillers fan (their final album coral fang was released in 2003) and was mesmerised by their ferocious-voiced, bloody-mouthed singer/guitarist. she was so punk rock that she dyed her naturally blonde hair black and ran away to LA from Melbourne before she was 18. now she's back with a new album under the arachno-moniker spinnette (and i'll be writing about them more over at pamflet soon) and 6 years after the distillers, has stuck to her distinctive scene-style: leathers, spray-on jeans and torn tees.

leopard is not one of her wardrobe staples (everything black is), but when she does wear it (see old band pic above), it's with all the insouciant confidence of a woman who knows she's an icon: for all the kids who've bought a leopard tie in claire's accessories with their pocket money or shoplifted animal-print tights from market stalls everywhere from camden high street to harajuku.

EDIT 27/7! BRODY IN X2 LEOPARD EARLIER THIS YEAR

LEOPARD LAIR: the case of the footstool

phoebe took me to a ramshackle junk shop on bethnal green road a few months ago to look at retro crockery, but i could take or leave the cups and saucers after spying the footstool/vanity case in the corner. silky scarlet inside and leatherette outside, it belonged in betty page's boudoir, NOT collecting dust on bric-a-brac lane.

we left, but i couldn't stop thinking about it. so a week later i went back, bought it and carried it all the way home.

i've got nothing to wear

what's with all those crummy articles mags n blogs roll out year after year around this time on what to wear to weddings this summer as if you want to dress like everyone else who's flicked through the mail on sunday. i don't see why one has to conform to a boring wedding 'look' when weddings should another forum for experimenting with extravagant party frocks.

like the one above. THIS just cavalli dress is what i want to wear to the summer nuptials i attend this season. thick, exotically patterned satin, knee-length for a polite nod to modesty and one-shouldered to reveal just a temptation of bare flesh. hmm, shame it's sold out.

"I LOVE TO WEAR YOUR SHOES" [tiga, 2009]

image: me at bus stop

image: profile pic of nike air max leopards

am i a lucky girl or what? my darling friend annette got me this natty pair of pumped up sneakers for my birthday [which was in may, but the shoes only arrived in the post from the internetworld last month]. the top shot shows me admiring them while sat at the bus stop while the second pic shows a similar pair with fur rather than a smooth print that annette found while browsing for leopard gifts. i might not be able to run in them, but i can jump.

NO YOU SHAN'T GO TO THE BALL

image: mine

i was meant to go the last tuesday society fairytale ball on saturday night after madonna, but instead got stranded in the 'north greenwich' type area. if i hadn't got stuck and had made it along, i would've worn this, a silver-edged snow-leopard-patterned mask [the cheapest thing i could find on ebay] with my fake red bridesmaid dress from phoebe and nick's wedding and some leopard courts. whenever will i use it now?

ON THE SILVER SCREEN: ghost world (2001)

a little treat for a drizzly wednesday morning: enid in her leopard mini with black shirt with white collar from classic outsider-indie-girl flick (and one of my all-time-top 12), GHOST WORLD. i believe that this look can also be accessorised with a catwoman mask.

j'adore dior: yesterday's fall '09 couture show

image: www.style.com

yesterday, in the salon rooms of christian dior paris, this took place. i've just finished reading the delightful 1950s novel 'flowers for mrs harris' (a divine, aged hardback edition was a present from phoebe for my birthday - thank you phoebe!) in which a humble london cleaning lady becomes obsessed with owning a dior couture gown, saves up for a few years and then heads to the shop/rooms to get herself one. it renders the desire to have, to own something utterly beautiful and unique and expensive that would live in your wardrobe like nothing i've ever read before.

on seeing the image above, i imagined myself as mrs 'arris at the show yesterday, gasping when this dress was walked down the carpet and scribbling in my notebook 'look number 12, TEMPTYTION!!'

TAKE A BOW

this fancy little number just arrived from asos.com. thankfully i waited for the sale before buying it because who knows when i'll ever get around to using it. could maybe wear it as a bowtie too. versatile. i know that big bows are ultra'08, worn til untied by long-healthy-flippy-haired skins-teens, but i do think that because we neglected headgear for so long, some of these hat-ish trends (which have come from the streets and not the catwalk) will stick. like leggings (praise be!).

STOP PRESS: lily on safari

truth be told kittens, i'm not a lily fan... well certainly not of her west ldn pop-lite anyway, but i had to post these pics up as soon as i saw them [i was looking up something for work!and didn't scroll as far as the comments because i knew they'd offend me].

this is lilz on stage at werchter in beligium yesterday - i don't know why she chose the purple loungesuit for glasto and saved this for the lowlands, maybe because she would've looked like she was trying to be GAGA? with the blunt fringe-wig look and poppin' red lippie she's so pin-up and i'm sure this brasserie is dolce&gabbana. it can't have been that hot if she's wearing leggings, so she's making a style statement that i absolutely MUST acknowledge. fur real.

KITTIN of the jungle: caroline loves leopard

she's on fire: lighter on the kittin and hacker blog
black rebel motorcycle kittin [from her myspace]
purrrfect sleep: a thousand dreams [from her myspace]
who she?: kittin in the mirror [from her myspace]

LYNX:

miss kittin myspace

miss kittin & thehacker website & myspace

'i'm proud to be a modern girl/who's not afraid in guitar shops/walking down the street in my leopard raincoat/no mercy for your ears/i am riding free [1,2,3]/i am ready to kick some ass/barefoot tonight'

from 'barefoot tonight', on the album batbox by miss kittin [2008]

miss kittin loves leopard print so much that she even sung about her animal-print overcoat in a song on last year's batbox album. strolling about in her mac, made her feel READY FOR ANYTHING. it might seem a bit obvious 'hey i'm a little cat lady! je suis une chatte' - because her stage name's kittin [very complex - it's like miss kitty, but comes from her first name caroline, shortened to cat], but she doesn't need to always wear it, just every now and then. aside from the name thing, she comes from a well-documented goth-indie-pop, industrial and maison francais background which adds up to a one-off style that combines elements of goth, punk and disco razzle-dazzle that's made her the cutest dj slash singer of them all.